CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Programming was announced Friday for the 47th season of Spoleto Festival USA.

More than 100 events will highlight innovative and emerging artists when the 17-day performing arts festival returns to Charleston this May.

Tony Award winner Denis O’Hare (Take Me Out) will perform a one-man tour de force in An Iliad, based on Homer’s epic poem. O’Hare is best known for his various roles in the hit TV anthology American Horror Story.

Plus, Charleston’s own Quentin Baxter will take center stage with his quintet during the annual festival.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

  • A memorial concert and benefit in honor of Spoleto’s late Director of Chamber Music Geoff Nuttall (1965–2022)
  • Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti’s psychological opera Vanessa returns to Spoleto after 45 years, directed by Rodula Gaitanou and starring Nicole Heaston
  • Tony Award winner Denis O’Hare performs a one-man tour de force in An Iliad, based on Homer’s epic poem
  • Three-concert Orchestra showcase features guest conductors Mei-Ann Chen and Jonathon Heyward, and the US premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 14, under the baton of John Kennedy
  • Distinguished jazz icons Henry Threadgill and Abdullah Ibrahim as well as next-generation talent Immanuel Wilkins and Courtney Bryan, in five-concert residencies
  • Charleston’s Quentin Baxter takes centerstage with his quintet, plus artistic homecomings for conductor Jonathon Heyward and pianist Micah McLaurin
  • Grammy-winning bluegrass trio Nickel Creek—Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins—perform two nights
  • US premieres of Out of Chaos from Australian physical theater troupe Gravity & Other Myths and The Book of Life, a theater production by Odile Gakire Katese with Ignoma Nshya, the first female drumming ensemble of Rwanda
  • Tap choreographer Ayodele Casel as well as the Scottish Ballet offer riveting new works, plus South African choreographer Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice
  • The Wells Fargo Festival Finale at Firefly Distillery, featuring Tank and the Bangas

 “Spoleto has a rich legacy of drawing multihyphenates—artists who are boundless inventors, eager to explore new expressions through collaboration and experimentation,” said Spoleto Festival USA General Director and CEO Mena Mark Hanna. “This season exemplifies reinvention. As the Festival hones its singular position in the arts and culture landscape, the works produced and presented here electrify the status quo, defying both convention and classification.”

Spoleto Festival USA will start on May 26 and runs through June 11. Tickets went on sale Friday and can be purchased online at spoletousa.org or by calling 843-579-3100.

For a full list of events, locations and more, please click here.